NAIROBI, Kenya, Dec 15 – Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka has expressed concern over bureaucracy in the government, saying it is discouraging investments in the country.
He said the red tape was interfering with efficiency.
Mr Musyoka was speaking on Monday at the Kenya Institute of Administration when he presided over the launch of the 3rd round of the Office of the VP\’s office and Ministry of Home Affair’s Rapid Results Initiative (RRI) program.
He urged civil servants to redouble their efforts in ensuring that there is effective delivery of services to the public.
He said civil servants must be competent, focused and effective if the government has to meet the demands of its citizens.
“This launch is made in the context of the dedication of our staff to improve the performance under the auspices of the ongoing improvement program in our correctional services especially the Prisons Department as well as improvements in the regulation of the gaming industry," said Mr Musyoka.
The VP said that the rationale behind the RRI procedure as well as the broader service improvement program was to comply with the increasingly high standards of performance that civil servants have resolved to reach as well as the high expectations of the Kenyan public.
“Our performance in delivering services to the public is a matter of contractual obligation, expressed in our Performance Contract that contains concrete deliverables and is drawn from our Strategic Plan that is in turn based on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and Vision 2030," he said.
He said that the 3rd wave of RRI should help to accelerate implementation of the ministry and department strategic plans based on the respective hierarchy of priorities.
"Indeed, we will in the next 100 days up-scale implementation of our mandate, namely creation of an environment that is safe, secure and conducive to our country’s social and economic development," said Mr Musyoka.
The VP said the ministry will strive to find new and better ways to contain and rehabilitate offenders, facilitate the administration of criminal justice through provision of pre-sentence reports to courts, supervision, rehabilitation and integration of offenders in the community and regulation of gaming activities.
Mr Musyoka said the ministry recently commenced a tree-planting program to augment present government efforts in the conservation of forests.
“The government has in this year alone planted some 5,000 tree seedlings to expand the Ngong Forest and all prison establishments in the country have started tree nurseries," he said.
He added that the Community Service Orders program has embarked on planting 4.5 million tree seedlings throughout the country.
Present were Permanent Secretary Dr Ludeki Chweya, Director of Administration, Emily Gatuguta, Commissioner of Prisons Isaiah Osugo, directors and senior government officers among others.
